Her Song Must End
by A Mad Man With A Box
Summary: A re-written version on the end of Forest of the Dead. River bashing. Written before series five and six.


UPDATE: Since watching the episodes in series five with Riversong, I felt the need to update this.

It should be noted that I hated Riversong with Ten in series four, but I don't mind River now in the fifth series with Eleven.

I don't hate her anymore, but when she first came in, she was just such a know-it-all, thinking she was so great and everything, that it really annoyed me.

So yeah, summary of all that. I hated River in series four. I don't hate her anymore.

Disclaimer: If I owned Doctor Who, I wouldn't have written this, because this would have just been how the episode really was.

* * *

Her Song Must End NOW!

The Doctor ran across the room, grabbing wires and sonic screwdriving electrical circuits together.

"What about the Vashta Nerada?" asked Anita, her helmet still blacked out.

"These are their forests!" The Doctor replied, still running around. He then proceeded to go on a rant, while still sonic screwdriving things, which Anita didn't catch because he spoke so fast. But then she caught the end of what he said.

"- Take everybody else away. The shadows can swarm to their heart's content!"

"So you think they're just going to let us go?" She asked.

"That's what they're going to get," he replied.

"You're going to make them an offer?" She asked him.

"They'd better take it! Because right now, I'm finding it very hard to make any kind of offer at all. Because you know what?"

He glanced back to Anita.

"I really liked Anita," he told the Vashta Nerada which had invaded Anita's suit.

"She was brave," continued the Doctor, turning back to his work, "even when she was crying and she never gave in. And you _ate_ her."

He pointed his sonic screwdriver at the Vashta Nerada, without looking, and relit Anita's helmet to reveal a skull in place of her face.

"But I'm going to let that pass," he paused in his work, tucking his sonic screwdriver back into his pocket, and turning to the Vashta Nerada. "Just as long as you let them pass," he finished.

"How long have you known?" it asked.

"I counted the shadows," replied the Doctor, moving to stand right in front of the suit, "you only have one now," he continued, face stony.

She's nearly gone," He told the Vashta Nerada, glancing at her life battery reading, which was flickering.

"Be kind."

"These are our forests, we are not kind," it replied.

"I'm giving you back your forests, but you are giving me them!" The Doctor ordered it. "You are letting them go," he continued, before turning his back to it to continue working.

"These are our forests, they are our meat," it told him, before stretching out an arm, and its shadow crept across the floor toward the Doctor.

The Doctor turned back to the Vashta Nerada.

"_Don't_ play games with me!" he commanded it through clenched teeth. The shadow continued to creep towards him. "You just killed someone I liked, that is not a safe place to stand!" he shouted at it, face stony and murderous. But the Vashta Nerada was undeterred by his words, and the shadow continued to stretch towards him.

"I'm the _Doctor_ and you're in the biggest library in the universe…," he paused before continuing.

"Look me up."

The shadow paused, and for a second there was nothing but silence. The Doctor continued glaring at the Vashta Nerada-filled suit. The shadow retreated, the Vashta Nerada lowered its arm, and gradually it only had one shadow again.

"You have one day," it told the Time Lord before collapsing.

The Doctor turned away from it, just as Riversong entered and rushed over to Anita.

"Anita…" was all she managed to say.

"Oh stop trying to pretend you care," the Doctor muttered over his shoulder at her, receiving a glare in response. The Doctor changed the subject, before she could start shouting at him.

"Why did you come back?" he asked, still fiddling with the machine in front of him.

"Lux can manage without me…but you can't."

"So I've been not managing for the past 900 years have I?" he shouted, finally turning around.

"Obviously," she replied in that pompous voice we all know and hate.

"Fine then…take my place," he shouted at her, throwing up his hands. "Die in my place and pretend that you're doing something noble," and then he added, "which you're not."

"If I die in your place, how is that not noble?" She screamed at him.

"Because you're greedy and selfish and you're only dying so everyone will forget all the horrible things you did in the past and pretend that they are heartbroken that you're dead and yet proud that you died to save everyone else!" He spat the words at her.

"Well…if you're such a good people predictor, Doctor, then predict this!" she screamed, before punching him in the face, sending him sprawling into a wall, before he fell to the ground and was knocked out.

* * *

"That was the_ lamest _and most cliché saying, I've _ever_ heard in my life…" The Doctor told Riversong, once he had woken up and discovered he was handcuffed to a pole. Riversong – who was screwing random wires together and looking scientific – didn't reply. The Doctor muttered something incomprehensible and turned his back on Riversong.

Riversong glanced at the countdown from time to time, still screwing random things together with some help from her sonic screwdriver. After a minute of silence the Doctor turned back around.

"Riversong, how come I ended up travelling with such a selfish jerk?" he asked her.

"Um…well…you see…" she started off, but then suddenly the countdown reached zero, and there was a blinding flash of light, before Riversong slumped to the ground, dead.

* * *

The Doctor lay Riversong's diary on the balcony, lightly brushing his fingers over the cover, while Donna watched on from beside him.

"That jerk… Professor Song…she knew you in the future, but she didn't know me. What happens to me?" Donna asked.

"…Because when she heard my name, the way she looked at me-"

"Donna…" The Doctor interrupted.

"She was an egotistic idiot. Everything she said was a lie. Don't believe her." He told her.

"But she _knew_ you…" Donna persisted.

"Fair point…" The Doctor stared into space for a minute or two, and then lightly dropped Riversong's sonic screwdriver onto her diary, before he took Donna's hand.

"Come on," was all he said, and he pulled her away and up the stairs.

* * *

They hadn't gone far when the Doctor pulled away and rushed back down the stairs and picked up her sonic screwdriver.

"Why? _Why _would I give her my sonic screwdriver? Why would I do that?" He shouted.

He turned to Donna, obviously expecting an answer from her. Donna shrugged.

"Maybe you didn't," the Doctor looked confused.

"Maybe she got it some other way."

"How could she get it some other way, Donna?"

Donna shrugged again.

"Ebay?"

"But Donna! My name! She knew my _real_ name!"

"That doesn't mean you told it to her, does it?"

The Doctor made to interrupt, still staring at the screwdriver, but then Donna said.

"Doctor. Doctor look at me. _Doctor_!"

The Doctor put down the screwdriver and turned to her.

"I'm certain that she never travels with you in the future, that she made that all up-"

"But Donna-"

Donna continued like he hadn't interrupted.

"Just because she knew your name, doesn't mean she was different. Lots of people know you real name, Doctor."

"They- WHAT?" The Doctor's mouth hung agape, eyebrows raised at her.

"_I_ know," she paused before continuing.

"_Rose _knew."

The Doctor's face darkened.

"I'll bet even Martha knew, too."

The Doctor was speechless.

"But…but how could you…?" He finally asked, now utterly confused.

"She looked you up," Donna replied simply.

"Donna, this library doesn't have my name in it," he scoffed.

Donna turned her head to the sky in frustration.

"NO! Doctor! She didn't look you up in this library!"

The Doctor frowned.

"Then what-" But Donna cut him off.

"Wikipedia!"


End file.
